Host, The (UK - BD)

Scott McKenzie is starting to regret dumping formaldehyde down the drain...

Feature

When the American military dump gallons of toxic chemicals into Seoul’s sewage system, it affects marine life in the Han River so much that a new type of predator is born. Without warning it attacks the people of Seoul, kidnapping Park Hyun-seo, the daughter of Gang-du, a slacker who does his best to stay awake when he’s supposed to be working in the kiosk owned by his father. When the powers-that-be refuse to believe their suspicions that Hyun-seo is alive, the Park family must battle against the military and the monster itself if they’ve got any chance of seeing her again.

I was looking forward to watching The Host, having heard lots of good things about it, with some critics claiming it to be the best monster movie since Jaws. The approach of the filmmakers is to focus on the effect of a crisis on one family in a similar way to Signs, rather than telling the story of the government’s battle with the enemy à la Independence Day. This seems like a good idea and allows for a more human aspect than a regular blockbuster. The problem I had with the story was that the various members of the family are pretty useless, bumbling their way past obstacles rather than overcoming them.

I realise that this is intentional and the comedy in the movie is based around the actions of the main characters, but I didn’t buy into it. Maybe it’s the Korean sense of humour I don’t get, but for large parts of the movie I was left asking why they didn’t say or do the most obvious and necessary things. This may seem like I’m making a mountain out of a molehill, but in a movie that has a massive killer fish thing as its main antagonist, the movie should move along quickly like a thriller and the comedy side of the story should be subservient to it, not slowing the action down while everyone goofs around.

Just as a bootleg edit of The Phantom Menace exists without the inclusion of Jar-Jar Binks, I believe there is an excellent fast-paced ninety-minute horror thriller hidden away somewhere in The Host’s bloated two-hour running time. The monster first appears in a genuinely exciting and surprisingly light-hearted attack and the scenes with Hyun-seo in the sewers are among the most suspenseful. The comedy does have its place as well, with a particularly inventive gag involving a coughing fit, a puddle and a passing bus.

The performances of the main characters are rather hit-and-miss as well, with the strongest coming from Ko Ah-sung as Hyun-seo and Song Kang-ho (who has previously worked with director Bong Joon-ho in the excellent Memories of Murder) as Gang-du. The cinematography is something to be admired though, with some inventive framing choices and good use of colour. All this adds up to a movie that has a lot of positive points that make it an enjoyable watch, but for me there were just too many moments that took me out of the movie to fully recommend it.

Video

While the original aspect ratio (according to IMDb) is 1.85:1, and that is how it is presented here. but the quality of the 1080p picture is very impressive. The movie is very colourful and I’m pleased to report that the colours are bright and strong. The only problem with this is that the picture is sometimes so bright that it clashes with the white subtitles, making them difficult to read in some scenes. The detail in the picture is also a major plus, with the smoke and water effects giving eagle-eyed viewers most enjoyment. Maybe it’s because of the high definition presentation, but I thought the monster looked more out of place than I did when I watched this movie on standard definition DVD. The structure of the monster doesn’t have as much detail as the viewer can find in the faces of ‘real’ people. While this isn’t necessarily a problem with the transfer, it did significantly affect my visual enjoyment of this movie.

Audio

There are three audio options available in both dubbed English (which I steered clear of) and Korean: PCM 5.1, DTS-HD HR 5.1 and regular Dolby Digital 5.1. The Host is inventive in the composition of its soundtrack, utilising silence and classical music to both dramatic and comedic effect and I have no problems to report with the quality here. Music, dialogue and effects are all pitched at the right level and I couldn’t spot any major flaws. The surround effects are most impressive, with echo and running water adding the necessary detail to the creepy scenes in the sewers.

Extras

This disc comes bundled with plenty of extras that will either prove to be exhaustive or exhausting depending on how you feel about navigating round the menus between all the featurettes, which are separated into three sections. The ‘Making of’ featurettes focus on the genesis of the story, which the writer/director thought of as the Loch Ness monster in the Han river via the family aspect of Signs. There is also plenty of behind the scenes footage of shooting on location in the sewers and the rough and ready work done to create some of the physical effects. The ‘Creature’ featurettes add up to the best part of an hour about the design, physical and digital animation of the monster. Of particular interest to me were the shots of the monster’s first attack without the monster, then with the digital model in differing levels of detail. The ‘Cast’ featurettes include short interviews with the main players as they talk about their characters and we also get to see them training in archery and shooting.

The gag reel is also hit-and-miss, including a lot of light-hearted digital animations. There are fourteen deleted scenes but some of them are very short shots of the monster but one does involve a clip of Korean football player Park Ji-sung, who also happens to play for the best football team in the world. An audio commentary is provided by the director and his friend, who chairs the chat, prompting him with questions. This works pretty well and we get plenty of information about the real-life inspiration for the opening sequence and the themes addressed in the movie. The original Korean trailer is also included.

Overall

The Host is a slickly produced movie that is definitely worthy of your time if you’re in the mood for a monster movie that’s a little different. However, I found the excessive time spent on the comedy side of the story made the film a lot longer than it should have been. Minor complaints about the subtitles and the monster aside, the movie looks and sounds good and the decent array of extras will be well-received by fans of the movie.

* Note: The above images are taken from the Blu-ray release and resized for the page.

30th January 2008 0:34#2

I absoluletly loved this movie, thought it was brilliant. I found it very similiar in vein to Battle Royale where the intial premise of a big monster movie (like with BR's "school kids killing each other" hook) is used to draw the viewer to watch but what it ends up being about is the characters and their relationships with each other. I agree with Gabe, i loved the fact it was drawn out and had that comedy aspect. Had it been more action orientated, it could have ended up some bargain bin B movie you get on the Sci-Fi Channel.

30th January 2008 1:15#4

I was considering picking it up. If so I'll get the USA BD which looks identical to this, even down to the 6 audio tracks (although it has Regular DTS instead of DTS-HD HR).

It's odd to bother including PCM and DTS-HD HR. No one is going to use it so they may as well have saved the space and included Regular DTS. DTS-HD HR is Lossy after all and if you can playback DTS-HR HR properly you're bound to be able to playback PCM anyway.

p.s - It's a pity the subs don't have a white border.

Rog wrote: I found it very similiar in vein to Battle Royale where the intial premise of a big monster movie (like with BR's "school kids killing each other" hook) Oh man I'd love Battle Royale on HD-DVD or BD.

30th January 2008 2:40#9

Cloverfield was all well and good, but it didn't have anything to say beyond "boo".

bollasio1313 wrote: May I ask why the people on this site review the audio/video? Isn't just about every movie that comes out on dvd nowadays have great audio/video due to how great technology is now? Kinda pointless. No.

30th January 2008 3:43#10

bollasio1313 wrote: May I ask why the people on this site review the audio/video? Isn't just about every movie that comes out on dvd nowadays have great audio/video due to how great technology is now? Kinda pointless.

Watch 3:10 To Yuma and The Assassination of Jesse James and get back to me on that.

30th January 2008 3:46#11

I totally dug Cloverfield and I have been meaning to pick this one up. In all honesty, for those who have seen both, are the comparisons between The Host & Colverfield accurate? Or should I be expecting something more along the line of Godzilla?

30th January 2008 7:21#13

bollasio1313 wrote: May I ask why the people on this site review the audio/video? Isn't just about every movie that comes out on dvd nowadays have great audio/video due to how great technology is now? Kinda pointless.

Check out my review of Enemy Of The State. That release shows that due to the lack of effort by some studios, even some HD releases aren't close to looking perfect.

30th January 2008 9:27#15

bollasio1313 wrote: May I ask why the people on this site review the audio/video? Isn't just about every movie that comes out on dvd nowadays have great audio/video due to how great technology is now? Kinda pointless.

About as pointless as coming to a DVD review website and asking why they review DVDs. Obviously not every film that comes out looks great. Of the first four BDs I've reviewed only one has received high AV scores. The others have all been 6s/7s.

31st January 2008 0:33#19

macnorton wrote: I totally dug Cloverfield and I have been meaning to pick this one up. In all honesty, for those who have seen both, are the comparisons between The Host & Colverfield accurate? Or should I be expecting something more along the line of Godzilla? There is no reason to compare the two beyond the fact that they're both monster movies from points of view not already taken. If you liked Save the Green Planet or any other such film that accurately portrays Korea's dueling senses of humor and drama you'll like The Host. If you aren't comfortable, familiar, or fond of those sensibilities you'll probably be bored. I thought Cloverfield was a good horror film, but the script was about as dumb as a box of nails, and I couldn't help but be entirely torn out of the film any time I was made to empathise with the actors. I thought The Host was ingenious political and social satire.

1st February 2008 2:52#22

I hated this movie, not scary, badly acted, the only cool part was the first time we see the monster running on the beach. After that it went down the c**pper. After I watched this. I said, who the f*ck compared this to JAWS? I wanted my $20 bucks back.

1st February 2008 22:39#23

Ha, ha, ha!! The Host backlash, how cliched. Cloverfield was Godzilla remade by people too stuck up their own asses to actually admit to liking cheesy dubbed Japanese movies. The Host p*sses on Cloverfield. B***h

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